Unbroken (Shattered Promises, #2.5)

Chapter 7

***This is from the unedited version and content may change*** **Mature Content Warning*** 17+ for language and sexual content.***

Epilogue

(Gemma)

 

It happens so fast I don’t have time to process it. One minute my brain is full of haziness where I can only see one single thought: kill Alex. Then suddenly I’m free, my heart flooded with emotions. Pain. Longing. Need. Sadness. I see so many things. Alex and I. Our hide out. Violet flowers. Dancing in a field. Blood Promise. Forever. Everything I’ve ever felt in my past, before my emotions were erased, surge through me and jumpstart my emotions.

I scream at the top of my lungs. “Stop! Stop! Stop! Stop. It’s me. It’s me. Alex stop!”

But it’s too late. He gags as he pulls the needle out of his heart. Gasping for air, his skin pallid, eyes wide. Seconds later, he crumples to the floor.

A blood-curdling scream rips from my lips. “Aislin! Untie me! Please. He can die now!” I did this. This is all my fault. No. Help. Stop. Please. God, it hurts so much.

Aislin buckles over Alex’s body with her head tucked down as she utters a chant under her breath, over and over again. Her hand glow red as she presses her hand to his heart. I realize she’s doing a spell, hopefully one that will bring him back. But the longer it goes on, the more my hope crumbles. After a while, Aislin gets quiet, tears still falling from her eyes as she glances up at me.

“He’s dead, Gemma. He’s dead,” she whispers softly as the glow from her hand fades.

“No he’s not!” I cry as I tug on the ties around my arms and legs. “Aislin, please untie me. I need to be with him.”

She finally is able to get up, and then she moves over me, her eyes swollen, tears streaming down her cheeks. She unlocks the ties around my wrists, her fingers shaking. As soon as she gets the last one, I spring upright and scramble over to Alex lying on the floor. His eyes are open, distant, blank, his arms and legs are sprawled on the floor. He’s not breathing. I check his pulse with my fingertips. Nothing. I try to feel the sparks. Nothing. I feel nothing.

I heart Aislin say something to me, but I can’t make out her words. There’s so much pain. Emptiness. I feel like I’m being pushed down from it. Sinking. Falling. Dying.

***

There’s a frozen lake before me and icicles dangle from the leafless tree branches. The dark sky casts a shadow over the icy land and the air is as chilly as death. Alex’s arms are wrapped tightly around me as we stand near the edge of the frozen water, holding onto one another as if our lives depend on it.

            “We’ll be alright, won’t we?” I ask him, but he didn’t respond.

A gentle breeze blows through my hair and the silence around us makes the world feel desolate, hollow, empty. But at the moment I feel at whole, at peace, calm.

I tip my head back and look up at him to tell him my worries, but he shushes me as he brushes my hair away from my face. “It will be alright,” he whispers, but his voice is unsteady.

My lips part to argue, but a crackle rises through the air and sucks the words from my lips. Moments late, tall, cloaked figures emerge from the trees surrounding us.